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Sebastian Schmideler, born on 14 December 1979 in Leipzig, completed a double degree in Medieval and Modern History and German Studies from 1999 to 2006, as well as German, History and Educational Science for secondary school teaching. In 2011, Schmideler completed his doctorate at the University of Leipzig with a study on the reception of the Middle Ages in children's and youth literature between 1700 and 1945.

Sebastian Schmideler has been working as an academic teacher in the field of children's and young adult literature for over ten years, has organised several externally funded and interdisciplinary conferences, managed projects and written numerous research articles. Most recently, he initiated an extensive DFG collaborative project with the university libraries of the TU Braunschweig, the University of Bielefeld, the Berlin State Library and the International Youth Library in Munich. The resulting digital corpus Colibri (Corpus Libri et Liberi) comprises more than 15,000 German-language children's and youth books from the "long 19th century". In recent years, Schmideler has specialised in the opportunities and potential of digital humanities in the field of children's and young adult literature research, where he has conducted research in particular into methods of digitally indexing the pictorial iconography of 19th century non-fiction illustrations for children and young people.

Sebastian Schmideler says: "The children's and young adult book department at the State Library is unique among comparable institutions in Germany and Europe. I am looking forward to following in the important footsteps of my predecessors Heinz Wegehaupt and Carola Pohlmann. Together with my entire team, I would like to effectively lead the department into the future as a shining example of contemporary and historical books for children and young people, digitisation, original illustrations and bequests."

Hermann Parzinger, President of the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation, emphasises: "With Sebastian Schmideler, the Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation is gaining an experienced, committed and academically versatile colleague."

Achim Bonte, Director General of the Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, emphasises: "Sebastian Schmideler is an outstanding expert in his field who also has an excellent international network. With his personal experience as a researcher and digital humanist, he will support the further development of the digital information infrastructures in the library and expand our services for children's and young adult book research in a high-profile manner."

Berlin State Library: staatsbibliothek-berlin.de

Press images: www.preussischer-kulturbesitz.de/newsroom/presse/pressebilder.html